Green Eyes

78. Dec. 30: I became a Reverend.

I went online and got my certificate for FREE. If anyone needs me to marry them, or do their funeral, baptize them, or read them their last rites, I'm legally capable. Feel free to call me Rev. Royce from now on. I'm totally gonna walk around and tell everyone that I'm a pastor now.


So, I saw Benjamin Button again today, and it was even better the second time. I never thought I would sit through a 3-hour movie twice in the span of a week, and still enjoy it completely. But I did.

I also saw Revolutionary Road tonight, which I've been dying to see for a long time. See it for sure, but it's SO depressing. My god. The acting wasn't that great, though. Leo DiCaps was pretty good when he was losing his cool, but other than that, I didn't see any oscar winners for sure.

The Manhattan Project

Seeing as how I was still sick, even though it's lame, it was literally the only thing I did yesterday:

77. Dec. 29: I watched 7 episodes of Extras in one day.

So stupid, I know, but I still wasn't well enough to do anything except for watch tv.

Save Us

This is kind of weird, but my circumstances allowed me to do something I wanted to do anyway.

76. Dec. 28: I stayed in exactly one spot the entire day.

And I mean one spot. The entire day is 11 hours, because that's how long I was awake. I was up half the night vomiting my mind out (great imagery) and I was completely confined to the couch for the day. I have never been more miserable in my life. I was in so much pain, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, and I had a fever. We think it was food poisoning. I watched a bunch of episodes of House, and then seeing as I couldn't even get up to turn off the tv (our remote is on its last legs) or put in a movie, I watched What Women Want, and part of Cast Away on tv, and then Wall-E later with my mother. But then I slept for about 13 hours.

Great post, I know.

Have a heart

75. Dec. 27: I went up to bed at 5 in the morning.

Don't ask me how I could have possibly forgotten to do a new thing, but I kind of did. So, there you go.

For as much time and resources I've had over break, I suck at this a lot.

Looking through a glass onion

74. Dec. 26: I watched Return of the King extended.

For as big of a Lord of the Rings nerd I'd like to be, I've never actually seen the extended cut, only ever the theatrical versions. If you want to be picky, I've also never watched it in the comfort of my own home, only ever on the big screen.

The reason I add on that side bit, is because in all fairness, I didn't exactly watch the whole thing, because I was too busy falling asleep. I, much like a genius, started a 4 1/2 hour movie at 10:30. So, there. That relates heavily to my thing the next day.

I Should Have Known Better

73. Christmas: I played Scattegories.

Although I got it for Christmas last year, I have never gotten around to playing it. I am not ungrateful for the gift at all, I love playing games, but I haven't had time in the past year. It was really fun, except I guess I'm not very good at it. It's actually quite difficult playing games with the Dickisons, because I guess they know a lot. Snobs.

Good Haul.

Don't leave me this way

72. Dec. 24: I sang a duet on Christmas Eve.

At the Christmas eve service, I sang a duet with Ross on Silent Night. I had nothing else, so that works as my new thing, right?

No Matter What

This one I've been meaning to do for awhile now, but Tianna wanted to do it with me, but she was being a little punk all the time...

71. Dec. 23: I waxed my legs.

Not as painful as I would have thought, but it was still painful. I got one of those home kits from Sally Hansen's, and it was really messy, and smelled kind of weird and it was really tedious. If I were to do it again, I would go somewhere, and have it done for me. Although it yielded better results than shaving, it was still really annoying.


I also went and visited Emily at school that day, which was a first, but I had already had this planned when she suggested it, so...Sorry Emily.

Covert

Christmas shopping...

70. Dec. 22: I spent over $100 dollars cash in a day.

It is just the worst feeling to be spending that much money, but I got a lot of good Christmas presents bought out of it.


I also saw "Yes Man" that day. Don't ask me why I wanted to see it (i'm not trying to sound like a snob, but that's just not usually the kind of movie I want to see) but I did, and it was actually really funny at times. I think because of Murray, from Flight of the Conchords was in it, and he was just terribly funny. Me and Caroline went together, because we didn't want anyone to know that either of us saw it.

Re: Now that its the end -- Rate the books! From Fave to Least Fave

Wow. I'm so sorry this has happened. The one day I was planning on actually finally updating, I got extremely sick, and seriously bed-ridden.

69. Dec. 21: I got up when Smokey woke me up, and tried to let him out, but he didn't want to go, so I fed him instead.

If that seems oddly specific, it is. I was busy the entire day doing something I've already done before (The Lord of the Rings marathon at The Riverview,) so I thought that this is something I've never done before, because no one ever wants to do it. Donesies.

I hope this doesn't put anyone off, but instead of a huge post, I'm just going to do individual ones.

love is a great beautifier

Happy Festivus. I'll write a massive post tomorrow. Today I lack the strength.

Festivus Dinner

67. Dec. 19: I went to downtown Macy's for lunch during my open hour on Friday.

The reason I get so specific there is because, I'm not sure if I've ever actually been there (Macy's 12th Floor) before or not for lunch on the regs, but I know for sure that I've never gone on a school day. The reason I went was because Meera kept talking about how she wanted to go and get some mac and cheese, and I thought it sounded good, so she suggestion we go during my open hour. Emma and Tianna also accompanied us. We cut it kind of close, time wise. But the food was really good.

And last night Tianna and I had the lamest sleepover. It's pretty much all my fault though. Because I was like "Tianna, do you want to have a Christmas treats baking day?" and so we decided that we were going to have a sleepover last night and do it. But, I was all Christmas treated out, thanks to the lovely Gingerbread house Andy made for me, and I decided I didn't really want to. Also, I hadn't really planned any of it out at all. And when Tianna first came over, I was watching Top Chef, and didn't really want to stop, so I pretty much made her watch two episodes with me, and I also read a magazine. And I was taking forever to decide what food to order for dinner. And I also kind of made us watch Family Guy. And then we went on the computer to do some shaz, and then I made her watch me play Word Twist. And then another draw of the evening was going to be us watching Donnie Darko, but when Tianna opened the case, she only had the second disk, so we didn't get to watch the movie, and she was really pissed off about not knowing where the actual movie is, (we pondered it maybe being at Lizzie's house...) and so, we just kind of hung out for awhile, and then we decided to watch Pride and Prejudice, but less than an hour into it, we got really tired, and went upstairs and went to sleep. All before midnight. And then I wouldn't get up this morning, because I was really tired, and as some of you may know, I don't say words at all when I'm tired, so I spoke to her only in hums, and texts and sign language. So, sorry, Tianna. I know I was really lame-o.


68. Dec. 20: I went to the State Theater.

I saw the Nutcracker Fantasy. It was really good. I went with Meera and Evelyn, and since Meera is a dancer, she knew like everyone and their mom, so I would feel bad saying anything bad about anyone. But I think the dancing was really good. Sometimes I wish I was a dancer. They're so cool, and who doesn't love a dancer? But I'm truly a terrible dancer, with awful balance, so it is not written for me. Le sigh...


This week I've been obsessed with Little Women. I'm currently re-reading it, and I've been watching the movie a lot, because it's my favorite book, and one of my favorite movies. Also, it's great for Christmas, but then you have to watch out about getting all sad when it's spring, and then the second part is just...ugh, a big old mess, but it must work out that way. Christian Bale!

Psychology Today

I just, don't care what anyone says, this is just the greatest hilarity of my life, so I declare it my new thing:

67. Dec. 18: I got locked out of a car.

Does not seem that hilarious, but oh, let me tell you, it was amazing. So, Jessica, Tianna, Lizzie and I went Christmas shopping at the mall after school, and you know, we got a lot of people to buy for, so we spent about 3, 3 1/2 hours shopping. So, our last stop, J. Crew, Lizzie walks out and looks into her purse, and kind of starts to smile, and allude to the fact that something is wrong, or she lost something. I assume she just left her debit card in the store or something. But no. She says: "I think I left the keys in the car." Of course we all start running towards bloomingdales, because that's where we parked, and Lizzie started laughing and said "I think it's still running." So, Lizzie, Jessica and I, were actually all laughing, and thought it was hilarious, and Tianna was freaking out, because she didn't want her stuff to get stolen. So 3/4 of us are having a good time with this, and we get out to the car, and we see that the car is still there, and indeed, it is still running. Lizzie goes to the door, and says "The radio is still on." And of course, all the doors are locked. I immediately pulled the underwire out of my bra and gave it to Lizzie to try and pick the lock, to no avail. So we go sit inside bloomingdales, and Lizzie calls home to get someone to come out and bring us the spare keys. At this point we are all pretty much beside ourselves, because this event is now comedic gold. I really could not stop laughing. I want to make a disclaimer though, I was not laughing at Lizzie for being stupid or anything for leaving the car on, but I just thought it was so funny that this type of situation happened to an extreme degree. So, anyways, Lizzie's cousin came and brought the keys (Everybody in Lizzie's family did not seem to find the situation as funny as we did...) and he seemed kinda mad, but we got in, and to add to the awesomeness, the heat was still on. So, it was nice and warm, at least!

Oh, just so great. I hope everyone gets a kick out of that one. It's just classic. Completely classic.


To switch gears extremely, I have been feeling really moody the past couple of weeks. Like I've been really angry, and depressed, and literally like everyone I know has done something to irritate me in some way. Everything and everyone is bugging me, and I have not been able to enjoy myself for awhile now. I know it is not everyones job in the universe to cater to my needs, and I know that It's not like everyone has been mean to me, (and again, it's not all about me me me) but I would like people to lay off of me. I think everyone who I am talking about knows who they are. Without being too specific, I would like to stop being nagged constantly, because when you get on my case, it makes me too depressed to even try anymore. I really don't want to talk about things that are wrong with me all the time. I wonder how you think that makes me feel. Obviously, I don't feel great about myself. And I guarantee you, if you're disappointed in me, I'm ten more times disappointed in myself, and don't need you to even talk to me. Please. Please, please, please, get OFF my back.

I'm sorry that was so emo, and it's not like I'm going to go kill myself or anything, but I think I need to address that. And don't talk to me later so we can talk about "how to address the problem."

older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

66. Dec. 17: I read a chapter from "Cold Tangerines"

I got the book from Emily for my birthday this year, and being distracted with other books, I just haven't sat down and read any of it yet. I apologize, Emily. But I was looking through it the other night (it's chapters are about significant life experiences and struggles, and other stuff as well) and decided to read the chapter entitled "Baby Making". Don't ask me why I chose that one, it must have just seemed the most interesting at the time. Anyways, Emily wrote a note in the front of the book, and she mentioned that she gave it to me because she loves it, and has read it twice, but she also mentions how she loves how it is written. I agree so much with that. It was totally easy to relate to, (even though, I am not in the business of making babies right now..) and I don't know, it was just very nice. So, thank you again, Emily.

Don't disappoint us, Dear

65. Dec. 16: I used Binaca breath spray.

Seems kind of weird, but I'm the kind of person who always chews gum, so I never really use anything else, and my friend, Emily, has been offering her breath spray everytime I ask for gum, and I haven't had any desire to use it. But yesterday I decided to, and I tell you it's awesome. It's so refreshing. I really want to get some now. Emily described it as feeling very "liberating." I guess it was that too.


I think we can all agree that my things have been less than awesome, and again, we can all agree that I need to step up my game. Since winter break is coming up, I will have more opportunities to do more "involved" things. I have a lot of things that are really cool lined up, but I just haven't had time to do them yet, so I end up doing weird things, I know. And I know this is another "apology" but I just thought I'd say what we're all thinking.

I would also like to point out that there is a new poll up, I forgot to mention it, and that might be why pretty much no one has voted on it, so just to let you know...

Dell

64. I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher completely unprovoked.

I'll be honest, there may have been a time that this has happened, but it's unlikely. If anyone knows me, I am extremely averse to doing household chores, and will NEVER do them without being asked (a flaw in my character, I'll admit) and so when I saw the sink full of dishes, I thought why not. I had just started my laundry, and thought I might as well keep going with the domestic theme. I have to ease into that one.

Things that are making me happy right now:
1. Christmas is almost here
2. Which means school is almost done for break
3. Lewis is doing quite well
4. Seinfeld
5. The Office
5. Along the same lines, Jim Halpert
6. Blogging
7. SNL digital shorts
8. Twilight
9. The fact that Batman exists


I would like to note that it is so cold, when I was putting away dishes this evening, I opened up the cupboards, and it was at least ten degrees colder inside.

Really?! With Seth and Amy

Sorry I haven't update at all since Thursday. I don't know what it is about me and weekends, and not updating.

So, def not something I did, but I think we can all agree this one is pretty epic:

61. Dec. 12: I saw Will Smith in person.

Many may know that he was at Southdale on friday promoting his new movie (seriously don't ask me why he was in Minnesota, let alone at Southdale) and collecting non-perishable food items for charity. He is probably the coolest person in the world. After Matt Damon (I have to say that on principle.) I went with Tianna and Jessica, and we left immediately after school, and got there at about 3:30, and they started collecting the food items at 4. So we were just hanging out...outside, standing around. Keep in mind, it was about 10 degrees outside. I must say I was not dressed very wisely. We didn't get there in time to get wristbands to see the movie, but I wasn't too concerned, although, in hindsight, that would have been nice seeing as how jazzed I was afterwards to watch a Will Smith movie. We finally got to go inside around 5, and we warmed up a little bit, and went out about 20 minutes later hand warmers in mittens, and stuffed into the toes of our shoes. Then we had to wait until about 6:30 or so until he actually got there, and he ran around greeting fans, and signing autographs, and then he spoke to all of us about his movie, and the charity, for about 15-20 minutes. I don't have any good pictures at all. It was really tough to get a good one. So just try to imagine this really fly black guy in a black hat and a jacket, just doing his thing. That was pretty much him. And basically that was pretty much it. It was awesome, but it was so cold, as soon as he was gone, we straight up booked it out of there and went to the car. It was only about 7 when I got home, so Caroline and I went out to the mall so I could buy her chipotle and Christmas shop (even though I had no idea what I was buying, and only bought for one person.) Awesome Possum.

62. Dec. 13: I only ate orange food.

I'm actually really disappointed because I didn't even realize I did that until the end of the day. So one of the most interesting things I've done, I did completely unpurpose. I woke up at about 12, so I skipped breakfast and just had some leftover chicken and cheese noodle casserole. Which was orange. I spent the day snacking on sesame chips, and clementines. Orange. I made myself cheese and shells with some velveeta. Orange. And I had Kraft Maccaroni for dinner. Orange. I suppose you could also say I had noodle based cheese dishes for all of my meals, as well.

63. Dec. 14: I made rice pudding.

My mother was going to make it, but she made me do it instead because I didn't have anything new yesterday. It was super easy compared to baking the bread. I much prefer that, because this was constant maintenance, and I don't like having to walk away and wait for things to happen (i.e. wait for dough to (not) rise) It was really good too, I must say. I think I just need more practice, and cooking and baking will be much easier for me. Because, as I said before, I want to be that person who cooks and bakes on the regs, you know? Especially since one of my New Years resolutions will be to "be more domestic."

Pretty much nothing else of note.

Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

60. I cooked hashbrowns

It's no wonder I've never cooked them, because they are extremely difficult. However, they are my favorite breakfast food, so I thought I'd try to make it work. In hindsight, I should have probably bought the ones that are already in hashbrown cake form, but I thought I'd go for a challenge. Even though that wasn't actually my logic at all.


In other news, I had a Quizbowl meet tonight, and we won all of our rounds. So, good for us. And seeing as we didn't take two teams last time, our former record of "zero" is now 4/8. And I totally mos def contributed. I powered on a Billy Crudup a la Mastercard question, and I believe Wall E one as well. We had a stellar team. Even if we ONLY played DeLaSalle teams. What a joke. Seriously.

My favorite things

I've had a great lapse in creativity this week. Bear with me. Is that the right "bear"? Or is it bare?

59. I drank some Yoohoo.

Ross had a bottle of it, and I was like "Hey I've never had this before." It was basically like Chocolate Milk, and as my good pal Katus the Batz pointed out, it tastes like there is some cinnamon. Good story, I know.


I found out that I will (for like the fifth week in a row) not be able to watch The Office tomorrow night AGAIN. Which angers me, because the last episode was so good. I guess that's all ther is to say about that.

Pas de Deux

58. I emailed Time magazine.

Has anybody read their Top Ten Movies of the year? I don't know if I missed something or WHAT, but The Dark Knight is NOT on the list. What gives? If I were to choose, that would be my number one movie of the year. Sincerely disappointing. And, while I am probably the only person I know that loved Speed Racer a whole lot, I do not in any way think it deserved a spot on that list, especially if The Dark Knight is not on it. I just cannot say enough bad things about this list. Except that: I will agree, Iron Man deserves to be on the list, as does Benjamin Button (even though I haven't seen it obviously, I think we all know that it has Oscar written all over it), Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, and Wall-E. But I just am at a loss with the rest of it. So disenchanting...

Virgania Horsen's Pony Express

57. I concocted some homemade Hot Chocolate.

My suggestion: Don't do this unless you have a recipe. What you think will be awesome and delicious is way too rich. Instead of milk as my main liquid, I used ice cream, and some milk, and some hershey's kisses (that was the only solid chocolate I had) and put it in the microwave. Quite literally this "recipe" came to me in a dream. Although, I imagine, I didn't use so much ice cream in the dream. In the end, it was good, but too rich to finish. Lesson learned.


I just watched the two episodes from the past two weeks of the Office tonight on Hulu, because I haven't actually watched it on a Thursday the night they air for who knows how long, and I just cannot get enough of Jim and Pam. I'm glad their plotline has improved. Cause I mean, seriously? Pam in New York? No thank you. I definitely wish I was marrying Jim Halpert. But let's be honest, who isn't in love with Jim?

Shut up Glen!

I'm sorry that I keep on posting a day late. I've just gotten into the habit of doing it that way. My bad...

56. Dec. 7: I cleaned my vanity area, and turned it in to a functional work space.

I decided to make more use of it, because I was trying to make a Christmas shopping list and cats were on my bed, and I didn't have my chair cleaned off, and my fouton had a ton of stuff piled on it, so I decided to clear off some space. I mean, do I really need to keep empty bottles of hair products? Or proudly display that I still have mascara bottles from 4 years ago? No, so I threw some stuff away and put all the not-useful shaz in my drawers, and organized it.


My obsession right now is definitely Hulu. It is the best website ever. Way better quality, and better clips than Youtube of shows and SNL skits. I don't have enough good things to say about that site.

Grandma the Punk Kid

I don't think people really like my precursors, but I think this one really needs it. So, some of you may know that I was planning on doing the Raindeer Run on Saturday Dec 6th. It was a 5k, and it was just around Lake Harriet. I was planning on running it with Emily, I think my parents were maybe going to do it, and several of Emily's friends I'm sure. However, I was startled to receive a call on Friday night in which I found out that I would NOT be running, because it was going to be terribly cold (which it was, I won't argue) and Emily was feeling sick, and the registration was $30, I've never trained a day in my life... the list goes on. SO, feeling rather disenchanted with Emily, she made herself responsible for taking care of my new thing for yesterday, and this is what she came up with:

55. Dec. 6: I played "The Wizard of Oz Board Game"

The Game in all it's glory: Basically candyland without the Candy, Magic Cards, which are useless until you really need them, but good luck having ANY when you need them, and the spinner that tells you how many spaces to go.

It was not a very exciting game, but we got a kick out of it nonetheless. We followed it up with some Trivial Pursuit. The least fair game of Trivial Pursuit ever, I might add.


Did anyone watch SNL last night with host John Malkovich? It was so funny. I can't remember any skit that I didn't really like. I really liked the "Barack Obama Plays it Cool" commercial. For some time now, I've thought that Fred Armisen's portrayal of Obama has been really underrated. I mean seriously! He does such a great job. I'm posting the video incase anyone wants to watch it.




I'm so excited to go Christmas Shopping. Never have I been more ready to spend money on so many things that are not for me. Is that a good thing? Or does my giving spirit still not make up for the fact that Christmas is commercialized, and completely driven by our consumerist society. I wasn't trying to sound like one of those people who guilt you about buying presents. But almost every bit of novelty of Christmas is being wiped out for me. Not to say that Christmas is novel, but I remember when gift giving was less selfish and I didn't make a list with very specific demands. I wish I wasn't like that, but I can't help it...

So you think you can dance? No..

I wasa inspired by how cld it is outside to do this one, evenm though it's kind of stupid:

54. I'm updating my blog with my m ittens on. ZTypos abound.

Typimg in the winter is very difficult, especially ince out computer is in "the porch" so, mittens seem like te natural answer. But, as you can see, not bery effective.

Talamello

In all honesty, this really shouldn't count, but I'm making it count because I think I almost want people to make fun of me.

53. Dec. 4: I cried at the end of Cheaper by the Dozen 2

There were just...some tender moments. I'm not proud. I think the term "teared up" may more acurately describe what it was like. Some of you may remember how, at the end of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (which I want to also point out, I watched 2 1/2 times in one sitting once), I got goosebumps, and everyone always makes fun of me for it, but now everyone has a legit reason for thinking I'm really lame. And for those who are wondering what I was even doing watching Cheaper by the Dozen 2, it was because I was babysitting (I know, I just keep getting cooler) and they were watching the end of it, and so here we come full circle. Plus, I totally forgot Tom Welling was in that movie, which was a pleasant surprise. It almost made me wish that I watched Smallville, but then I remembered that I hate that show.


I love Noodles. I just, love Noodles. I went there today for lunch and got Buttered Noodles with Parmesan Chicken, and it was just the best thing ever. I hadn't had that since May, I think, due to my journey to the menu, so it was only my second time having that. I would recommend anyone should get it. It's one of my favorites the menu.

Did everyone like my little Love Letter to Noodles up there? Good. Take my poll.

Holiday Guide to Greece and the Aegean Islands

Sorry, the internet was down at the homestead, so as you may have noticed, no blog posts. And the internet being down relates to yesterday's new thing being a little questionable..:

51. Dec. 2: I sat at an open house table and recruited for Quiz Bowl.

I was planning to do the thing I did today, yesterday, but it was an internet thing, and obviously couldn't. So, I think it's fair to say that the recruiting thing works. I have never sat at a table at an open house, nor have I ever wanted to, altough I have been involved in several activities before. We only got three kids interested in us, but we were playing some pretty stellar Harry Potter trivia to pass the time.

52. Dec. 3: I put a poll up on my blog!

I was especially excited to do this one, because until this point, I have not known how to put one up, and I'm one of those suffer in silence type of people, so I poked around on blogspot and figured it out. I didn't really know what to say though, so I posted the type of question I would most like to answer. So, sorry if I have kind of lame choices. There are a lot of movies coming out! So, please feel free to cast your vote if you read this. That may also give me a good idea of just how many people are reading.


I'll mention again, that I'm a little disenchanted with Top Chef season 5, but I'm starting to warm up to it a little. Except that they sent home one of my favorites tonight. So, we'll see if Tom can stay in my good graces for long after this.

fair.org

50. I created a Deco File on dominomag.com

Caroline was telling me I should create one, and I wasn't going to, but then I was thinking about decorating in my room, and didn't know how to get started, so I decided why not? So, I've only just started it, because my computer was being all slow. So, yup.